Sunday, April 23, 2006

Great writers must be beautiful???

We've been talking about this on the WNP blog...an agent posted on her blog that in order for authors to get picked up these days, they really need to be attractive so they can be promoted via television and print media. She said that if you don't see the author's pic in the back of the book, it probably means she's a dog (okay, I'm paraphrasing here). This post really bothered me on several levels. One, I started reading some of my favorite authors long before their pics ever appeared on their dust jackets. Would seeing their picture have made any difference in my choice? Not at all. I loved the books, couldn't have cared less what they looked like. But in this looks-conscious society, I can see the agent's point--even if it pisses me off.

This is where I think the e-book revolution can make a huge impact. Most people don't know
what their online friends look like, unless maybe they visit their blogs to look, and most of us don't care. I've learned that sometimes beautiful people have ugly insides, and ugly people often have beautiful insides. And it's what's inside that counts. What's inside is what will show on the page: the morals, the beliefs, the way of looking at life that translates itself onto the page.

But if publishing is only chasing after the all-mighty dollar rather than seeking to find works with heart, soul, and engaging characters, we will probably watch print books fade slowly into the past, and e-books will soar to the forefront.

Tori

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Finally, a day off

We've been working 12 hour days lately and I'm beat. My writing is suffering terribly--as in no writing being done at all. I have been trying to edit a few pages a day, but I end up nodding off at the computer and give up in favor of trying to catch at least 6 hour of sleep before the alarm goes off. I keep promising my husband that I'll finish this book, because I have a really strong feeling that this one might sell, but without a break in the work schedule, it just isn't happening. Now I have the next 5 days off--glory hallelujah!--so we'll see how much I can get done. My goal is to finish polishing and editing the 200 pages I have so far and sending those off to Hilary Sares, then hitting the keyboard hard enough to write another 50 pages. We'll see if that happens. But first, there's the mowing and the laundry and the vacuuming and dusting and sweeping and...

I need to win the lottery so I can just stay home and write books!

We did our family Easter party a week early, and we had a blast. Almost the entire extended family gathered at my mother-in-law's house, many bearing dishes for lunch. I love these family dinners and wish we could do them more often, but they're a huge burden on whoever hosts the party, so we keep them to just major holidays. Anyway, it was fun to watch the little ones hunt eggs in BJ's huge front yard. DH took some really good pictures with his new Nikon, and I even let him take mine (I hate having my picture taken.)

My oldest grandson mistook an egg dye tablet for a Sweettart and started chewing it. Much panic ensued (on his part, anyway) when his mouth, tongue, and teeth turned blue. Took his mother 10 minutes with a toothbrush, some Crest, and baking soda to get him back to a semi-normal look.

Hey, don't miss the Wet Noodle Posse e-zine this month. Some really great articles over there.
http://www.wetnoodleposse.com